What would you like to see in a new iPod?

Matt Rosoff over at c|net NewsBlog is not too impressed with the thought of a new generation of iPods said to be on it's way. Rumours have been rampant since the release of the iPhone and Matt is asking the questions "What would make you buy a new iPod?". His argument, there is not much you could do to the iPod to make most users want to shell out more money to upgrade to the next generation. I'm not so sure, I think we are all subject to a tiny bit of new product envy regardless of how trivial the updates may or may not be.

Video game fever

The BBC has an interesting article about researchers in the UK that have developed a video game that sends shocks into volunteers players who are being studied in an attempt to understand how the brain reacts to fear. "The forebrain is active during periods of anxiety, and helps coordinate escape strategies to avoid the threat.. .But when the computer game predator moved nearer, blood flow switched to the midbrain. The midbrain is a primitive area of the brain, and it controls gut-level reflexes such as the decision to fight or flee" said Dr Dean Mobbs of University College London. An MRI machine is used to follow the flow of blood in the brain as it reacts to danger and the prospect of getting shocked! I don't know why but I kept hearing "Pac-Man Fever" in my head while I was reading this article!

1.3 Million Monster.com users have personal data stolen

In this CBC article Monster.com is said to have confirmed that 1.3 million users had their personal information stolen in the attack reported by Symantec Corp. last week. A security notice published on the Monster.ca site says "Fortunately, we have been able to identify and shut down the source of the software. By gaining unauthorized access to employer accounts, the software was obtaining job seeker contact information. The information obtained was limited to the names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of job seekers primarily located in the United States. The purpose of gathering this information appears to be sending email disguised as Monster in order to gain recipients' trust, and then attempting to convince users to engage in financial transactions, or lure them into downloading malicious software." They further go on to encourage you to be careful about e-mails that appear to be from the company and ask you to download software or update account information... good advise any time.

I have an iPod Shuffle to give away

One of you could be the proud owner of a new 1GB iPod Shuffle. It’s easy, send an e-mail to 7 friends, co-workers, and/or relatives telling them how much you enjoy reading Great Big Geek, include a link and encourage them to subscribe to my feed (The orange button on the right). Copy me on the e-mail (greatbiggeek@gmail.com), and your name goes in the hat. 1 iPod Shuffle to be given away at random on September 22nd, 2007. I’ll even pay the shipping! Don’t cheat, each e-mail must have seven recipients, eight if you count me… you can’t send individual e-mails. It may sound dumb but I’ve been reading “The Tipping Point” and it’s an experiment, so help a geek out and spread the word.

iPhone untethered

A teen from New Jersey and a software company hoping to cash in, both claim to have come up with methods of undoing the ties that bind the iPhone to AT&T. 17 year old George Hotz's solution is not for the faint of heart, especially when you consider how much the hot little device sells for (it involves a soldering gun). iPhoneSimFree.com claims to have a software only solution that it has released to the media before making it available for sale to the general public. Globe and Mail story here.

The sky is no longer the limit for Google Earth

I guess that I'm officially becoming a Google fan boy, I realize that not everyone loves everything that Google does but I've yet to be disappointed. This week Google announced an upgrade to Google Earth called "Sky" that enables users to view the sky as seen from planet Earth. With Sky comes seven informative layers that illustrate various celestial bodies and events: Constellations; Backyard Astronomy; Hubble Space Telescope Imagery; Moon; Planets; Users Guide to Galaxies; and Life of a Star. "We're excited to provide users with rich astronomical imagery and enhanced content that enables them to both learn about what they're seeing above and tell their own stories," said Lior Ron, Google Product Manager. "By working with some of the industry's leading experts, we've been able to transform Google Earth into a virtual telescope.

A look deep inside Penny Arcade

If you are a gamer or are into comic strips then you've probably read an episode or two of Penny Arcade, the web comic about all things geeky, or perhaps dorky! Penny Arcade has been around the Internet for 8 years now and it's creators still pump out 3 episodes weekly, it's a huge success and Wired has an in depth article / interview with the brains behind the operation, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. It's a fun read.

Sony PS3 to have PVR add-on

At an industry show in Germany on Wednesday, Sony announced a TV-tuner add-on that will turn the Playstation 3 game console into a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) giving owners the ability to pause and record live TV using the console's hard-drive. A price was not announced and according to this CBC article, there are no immediate plans to roll-out the device in North America.

When Bots Attack - from the pages of Wired

Wired magazine walks us through an interesting denial of service scenario in their article "When Bots Attack". The hypothetical scenario sets up how a country's information infrastructure could be brought to it's knees for hours or even days through a distributed denial of service attack. "Using rented botnets, you can launch hundreds of thousands — even millions — of infobombs at a target, all while maintaining total deniability." It's a short read but an interesting one.

Animated search engine from Microsoft

Microsoft has launched a new search engine to showcase it's, flash competitor, Silverlight animation and video player. tafiti, which means "do research" in Swahili, is a slick application that puts some fun back in searching. The animated interface allows you to quickly flip from results of web searches, news, rss feeds, images, or even searches within books (if the publisher has agreed to allow it). The "shelf" function lets you to drag and drop search results to shelves, stack results, and place labels upon them. There is also an interesting tree view that presents your search results as leaves on a tree, you can spin the tree 360 degrees around it's trunk or prune the branches, a neat interface but maybe not so practical. There are some nice features, I particularly like the collaborative tools, but I'll have to play with it a bit more before I pass judgment on the quality of its search results. Cool just the same.